Sabbath Revelations

“And He said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” Mark 2:27

Forward or Backward?
The technical, financial, and industrial, fields have made stupendous advancements, in an imaginative, humming world. With some qualms, however, it is the best that man can offer. Furthermore, medical science has made miraculous breakthroughs in its war on bacterial and viral infections, yet, the bacteria and viruses mutate or change into more virulent strains, producing horrific forms, and often a revival of ancient diseases, to baffle many leading scientists of the world.

Moreover, the degenerative diseases are on the rise, such as arthritis, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, cancer, Parkinson’s disease, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and others, too numerous to mention. Not only the elderly, but many middle aged, and younger, are seen today in wheel chairs, and shuffling about on canes. “Baby boomers” are now reaching the age of sixty and, consequently, there will be a further rise of debilitating diseases and the need for costly health care services, burdening the economy and its productivity. On the other hand, it’s true, man’s longevity or life span is being increased, one says, but it’s a life of suffering, inactivity, and for many…loneliness and a sense of worthlessness.

Coping
Compounding the problem further in this grim picture, we see an astronomic increase in social and psychological dysfunctions, and a disarray of treatments, opinions and their cures. Children, particularly, are being grossly affected in their behaviours and conduct. Others in desperation turn to alcohol and drugs, suicides, and some, overeating, to cope with the stressful conditions of an agonizing, stressful life in an oppressive world.

Slimy Beginnings
Evolutionists believe they have many of the answers to man’s progressive changes from his very beginnings evolving from an amoebic one-cell form from putrid slime and rising to the likes of King Kong, super-heroes, space freaks, clones, DNA manipulative, and genetically engineered likes and dislikes. Scientists, however, have exposed their findings from their earliest discoveries, supposedly dating millions of years ago, as fraudulent and scandalized, for example, as merely a pig’s jaw, and other presumably bizarre forms of early prehistoric man.

What’s New?
Man most certainly was created for greater things than the dreary picture portrayed above of degenerating mankind, on the brink of destruction in a perishing world. Yet, we continually see man increasingly falling prey to a wholly technological existence. It’s common to see “mechanized forms” of man plodding the streets in a frenzy with iPods, or some other forms of devices attached to their ears, and cars with computer elements crowding the instrument panels. What is the sobering conclusion? Technology has let man down! It is destroying all the canons of morality, for one, diverting interest from God.

Reckless Search
“Unarmed” youth are dashing about looking for meaning in life… a purpose… an escape. Many are looking for meaning in the church to help them. Many more believe that religion of some form laced with emotional highs, and exciting music can satisfy their thirst and hunger for a “Way”. Eastern cults are on the rise, offering a meditative inward lifting and energizing powers from within to reach new heights of awareness. And they are succeeding in seducing many. Christianity, today, is identified by many with modern man and a modern God, in their own existing state, in a comfortable style, according to their own needs and desires, without diverting from their past and present way of doing things their own way and speaking their own words while maintaining an airy or convenient form of Godliness. It’s senseless.

Don’t Forget
Ah! But, God has given us the Sabbath Revelation, and “He said unto them, the Sabbath was given to man and not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27). This scripture is difficult for many to understand, and how it can fit into one’s life pattern. It needs, therefore, elaboration. Firstly, it is the fourth commandment, of the Ten Commandments. It is the longest of the commandments, and the only one which starts with, “Remember” (Exodus 20: 8). God deemed it important enough to remember, and thusly states it prominently at the onset for emphasis. He knows how easy it is for man to forget. Moreover, the Sabbath is not merely for the ancient or modern Jews of today.

How Old?
How far back does the Sabbath Day goand why has it transcended so many years? Well, from the “beginning.”(Genesis 1:1; 2:2, 3). From the start, God knew what man needed. We need rest… spiritual, physical, and social. God expressly, and graciously provided it for us (Mark 2:27). But, what has happened? There existed a “cultural disconnect.”

Camping Anyone?
Earlier, for example however, youthattended camp meetings. It was a wonderful “retreat”. The youth were separate from the world, communing with nature, and receiving inspirational messages, speaking to their hearts. Many at that time turned their hearts to God, accepting the truth, making a covenant with Jesus. Not today. Many “camp meetings” are tinged with rock music, frenzied speakers, with empty messages, swaying listeners, and the love-theme. They resemble, however, ?a “Theme Park.”! There is no Biblical foundation: of a new redemptive life; of confession, repentance, an earnest prayer life, and to follow Jesus only, and not some “figurehead.”

How Necessary?
We need the Sabbath! Why? Well, for many reasons. We are ferociously being bombarded by information to gain our attention. We need to STOP, and step aside, so God can come into our lives. In essence, we need to get out of His way, “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”(Phil 2:13). The media, culture, and society say we need “more.” No! We need “less”! There is a breed of man that impulsively gathers, collects, and stores. They have been aptly named, “pack-rats.” Simply a state of covetousness (Exodus 20:17).

THE KEY: Four Points
The key to the Sabbath is a voluntary “consciousness.” It is not merely a philosophic, or a theoretical exercise or premise, but an active “heart-felt” awareness. Let us pursue this further by outlining what the Sabbath gives us in four points:

I. Dignity

We receive a special blessing. Why? We are special! We are human beings created in the image of a loving Father (Gen 1:26). We have not evolved from dead, smelly, stagnant pools of slime, nor are we mechanized robots, or industrialized machines, which the dictates of society would have us work as beasts of burden seven days a week. Yes, man has grossly degenerated, but God still wants us to remember that He created us. He wants to use that holy time of Sabbath to mold us back into His image, to re-create, and liberate us from that which enslaves us.

II. Identity

Fear and anxiety is gripping the world with an “identity crisis.” It shouldn’t trouble us as we are, not just another number, or a cosmic accident from the “big-bang” theory, that we just “happened.” Believers have an identity with the “Lamb as the one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads” (Rev. 14:1).

The world is competing for resources and life. We’re a sea of humanity, a sea of waves flowing to and fro, governed by the whims and fancies of many. We can, however, hold our heads up high with a God that made time, a gift He has given us. He is a God that made on the seventh day of His creation week, something very different from anything else He made on any of the previous days of creation… time to spend with His children (Mk 2:27). It is a time for rest and for reflection. (Hebrew–Shabbat, means “rest”).

He cares more than we can ever imagine. He knows your name, where you live, what you are going through, even things you don’t know about, yet. We are all part of a family, each member being a unit. God, also, wants us to be part of a Church family, each one being a building stone, drawn from all parts of the world drawn into one body of Christ… the Church. The Sabbath, therefore, is not merely for the Israelites, or one ethnic group.

III. Structure

The Sabbath sets the pace or patternfor our lives. It monitors, centers, and equilibrates our lives. How? Well, it generates in us a desire whereby our whole life is focused on God, and that He is in our uppermost thoughts. It’s a starting point… a “jump-start.” By keeping the Sabbath one finds that it is easier to keep the other nine commandments.

In an oppressive world, this can be difficult at times, as it encroaches upon your Sabbath. But still, we have six days to work, and the Sabbath brings our life back into focus, to receive a special blessing, a memorial day and reminder of God’s rest on the seventh day of Creation, and what He has done (Heb 4:4).

Ah! But something got in the way–that it is solely for the Jews and always has been. But, the Sabbath was observed by both Jews and Christians on the seventh day of the week. We are not stealing from the Jews. The biblical Seventh day, however, was gradually abandoned and the Sunday came into being, by man’s direction, not God’s.

We need the Sabbath Day to know who we are, where we originated, and what’s really important in our lives.

IV. Anchors

The Sabbath day, furthermore, anchors our way of life, in that it makes us see a difference in every day of our lives. The Sunday proponents, however, have made successful strides in manifesting this lie of the day of worship, but they will ultimately be the losers. It’s not scriptural, nor can it be verified thusly. Yet, many faithful souls have been duped into worshiping on this day, unawares of its false claims (Math 15:9).

It’s absolutely necessary that a society, a people, have a periodic day of rest, a periodic day of worship, a special day each week, to focus their attention on God and have a “set apart” time, to separate oneself from worldly matters and commerce, a sure anchor(Heb 6:19)(Isaiah 58:13,14). Man needs it more than ever before, because of the intense age we live in, full of its woes and miseries, and that we take this day to be refreshed and to think of things of the Spirit.

Practicable
We can gather from the above four points what Jesus has confirmed. Jesus said that the Sabbath was set aside for man’s practical benefit (Mark 2:27,28)(Isaiah 58:13,14). This means keeping the Sabbath in a spiritual and literal way.

The Sabbath was binding in Eden and it has been in force ever since. The Sabbath already existed when God wrote this law on the stones at Sinai. In fact, it shall be an anchor, exist, and enjoyed on into eternity, because it was planned that way. “And it shall come to pass That from one New Moon to another, And from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the Lord (Isaiah 66:23).

Vacation Time
The Sabbath will create a new spiritualdimension in your life. It is a vacation with God, one day every week. The fourth commandment is not ancient history, to be forgotten, or abandoned. The cry today is–Technology will fill you and ?provide you with all your needs, they say, but we now know that it will not, although it has a place in society and our lives, it can act as a stumbling block if not balanced with a “spiritual pause.”

Sweet Benefits
Think of the many benefits and blessings for a faithful believer and follower, who honors and worships Him on the Sabbath day:

Manna
God provided manna for the children of Israel and will continue to provide for all your needs. “And the children of Israel ate manna forty years…” (Exodus 16:35)

Redemption
Furthermore, “He has sent redemptionto His people; He has commanded His covenant forever; Holy and awesome is His name.”(Psalm 111:9)

Love
This is love. “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”(Genesis 1:27)

Light
Where once you were in darkness, and now you are in the light, so has the Lord spoke all these things, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who have brought ?thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”(Exodus 20:2)

Promise
The believers, standing in grace, and the believers in Christ in the heavenlies is sealed with a promise. “In whom ye also trusted, after ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also after ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise” (Eph 1:13).

Prayer
Finally, what is the conclusion? What is our joyful duty for this Sabbath Revelation in thankfulness? “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph 3:14).
Amen.

John Theodorou, U.S.A.